Selling all of your firearms

I did that once in my life and regretted it ever since! I now have a collection of rifles, shotguns and handguns and the thought of selling them off never enters my mind. I will give them to close family members when the time comes before selling them off.
I learned my lesson the first time.

I’ve always sold guns when I didn’t need/want them, I see nothing sacred about mass produced firearms.

I’ll keep my inherited guns and add one or two myself to pass down but everything else is just an asset to be liquidated at my convenance.

If you’re thinking about selling now seems to be a hot market, 6 months from now who knows?

montanaoffroader said:

When/if I downsize, my youngest daughter will be first in line with her hand out. I will probably take a severe loss on most of my accumulation...........

I had considered sending a few non-heirloom guns down the road to fund other projects, but then my youngest informed me that they were now "Dad's guns" and should not be sold outside the family.....y'all can see where this is going.

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smart kid! You should be proud!!!

I have bought and sold 4 collections and several accumulations. There is a difference. The collections were easy to sell. The other collectors were very eager to buy. Accumulations are harder to sell. Most of what we read about on this forum are accumulations. A nice variety of widely unrelated pieces. You have to find someone who wants that bolt action shotgun, that break top revolver or those brass framed revolvers.

I am still collecting but I also have an accumulation of stuff. I will sell off the accumulation of firearms as I can. I have secured “bids” for my final collection and much of the paraphernalia will go with the sales. My reloading gear will be given to a youngster who is learning to reload, after I am done with it.

They are merely things to use and pass on.

Kevin

It does seem odd to me. To sell them, that is. However, I am now seventy years of age and have no interest in getting up early and going out in the cold. So I do not hunt. I enjoy my collections of arms that appeal to me, but I will die at some point and I do not think my kids will want everything. So getting rid of much of it has some merit. I'd keep some pieces for defense and perhaps a few collector items...

Maybe next year.

Can’t take them with me and there’s really only one or two I even shoot now. So yeah

Been thinking of thinning the herd a little myself, but it's hard to say goodbye to any of them.

I took the initiative today to invite my oldest son to have a look through the safes and asked him if any of my many multiples appealed to him. When the dust settled I had 7 to place on the chopping block while he added 2 more to his list. My buying hasn’t ceased but there’s no sense in keeping what isn’t needed anymore.

I have nearly no family. I guess I'll have to sell off all but a couple sooner rather than later.

My boys and my daughter will gladly take care of my small assortment of guns!

I read a lot of posts on here about how I wish I never sold that gun. Never sell your guns. Just don't buy more. Ha!Ha ! That last part was a joke

Styx said:

I just think I'm getting over the whole collection faze and see no point in it, but on the other hand, I'm somewhat attached and I'm worried I might regret selling down the line.

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I totally get it. I have three daughters and not one has ever pulled the trigger on so much as a BB gun. They're just not interested and have been brain washed by the public schools into thinking guns are inherently evil (and that I'm a defective relic of the past). And my wife is suddenly using her paid pandemic down time to get our affairs in better order (writing the "death letter" instructions and nagging me to inventory and value my meager collection (half a dozen hand guns and half a dozen long guns).

But I've been very selective in what I buy and why I buy it, so apart from one AR build, each of these is somewhat of a treasure and I'm not interested in parting with any of it. I may will it all to my nephew, who is an Army MP and aspiring red-neck. In fact... that's exactly what I think I'm going to do.

And don't even mention my wood working and metal working tools. My only concern there is that somebody turns the table saw off after I croak in the middle of making my last project.

Sadly.... there will be little to no legacy of the last of the can-do generations, and our prodigy will be a slave to the gub'ment and corporations.

I6turbo said:

do NOT want to leave a bunch of guns and stuff for my family to dispose of. If I've made clear arrangements for who wants what guns and accessories, I think that's great. But I don't want to just leave a bunch of gun stuff for someone to deal with

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My mom passed a year ago last week. She was 94, and the attorney handling the estate said it was better organized than anything he had ever seen. Every last detail was covered. Taxes were even paid in advance

We are still working on it a year later, and all of us are in total agreement on how to proceed. Unless you’ve been through it, you have no idea how complex it can be. I’m not going to burden my kids with a bunch of stuff that I thought was great and to them it’s just stuff to get rid of

I used to work at the LGS. I remember young adults coming in with literally arm loads of guns, dumping them on the counter and hoping to get whatever they could. They may be precious cargo to you, but so someone else they’re just chunks of wood and steel. Zero sentimental value.

In the end, we don’t own anything. We are simply caretakers of items while here on earth. Somebody owned your property before you, and someone else will own it when you’re gone.

I’ve whittled down to a handful of guns. One .22, one deer rifle, etc.

You could always have some strange provisional arrangement in your Will that a child must spend an hour of range time with an professional instructor and “x” firearm before they can inherit penny one. There may never have been a spark before, and it might be a Hail Mary but why not. Leave $200 in cash banded to the weapon and the name of a local instructor with a form to fill out.

Waveski said:

It seems that one of these "Should I sell my guns?" threads pops up every few months.

Keep it all , sell some , sell the whole shebang - whatever you want. What difference does it make what anyone else thinks? It's not their life and it's not their property.

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I often enjoy this type of thread even though what you wrote is true -- that only the individual pondering the question can really make the choice for himself/herself -- but I expect that styx and others who post similar questions are just interested in other views and other possible ways of looking at the matter. I know that I enjoy seeing other people's thinking on these types of things. Especially interesting to me are how some of the older members view and express their thoughts on getting older and how they deal with the consequences. More than once I've read things in those types of threads that I've taken to heart and they have impacted to some extent my views and outlook.

I've stopped lying to myself and just readily admit I'm a collector/accumulator now more then a shooter. I'd say 80% plus are guns that just sit in my safe and never get taken to the range or if they do make it to the range it's very infrequent. I have my favorites and they get most of the range time. Out of the collection I'd say 60% are collector worthy and 40% are just accumulation. I'm pretty sure there are people that would be interested if I decided to sell, but I'm too young at this point and I'm of a mindset, at least right now, not to sell. Who knows. That might change when I get older. Overall I don't have anyone to leave them too other then maybe one nephew so who knows what will happen when I pass. My wife has her LTC so if I kick the bucket she can take ownership of the collection. Have a good friend that will help her sell them without getting ripped off.

Nope, but if the Dems sweep President, House and Senate I'll be going on TOR and give mine away to support the militia instead of waiting for them to be confiscated!

Pushing 70, so its about the best I can do to support the cause if it comes to that.

We have no children, so if things don't go "worst case scenario" Our will leaves specific NFA items to friends and relatives so they can avoid the $200 tax and the rest is to be split between The NRA and TSRA.